Safeway, Wegman's beat out Walmart, others for service

TORONTO — Safeway and Wegman’s Food Markets ranked highest across all customer service elements, according to a survey by Empathica.

Empathica, a customer experience management solution-provider, polled more than 16,000 consumers, and found that operations and merchandise were the two most important elements in grocery shopping versus other elements such as promotions, people and technology.

While Wegman’s had the highest scores across all service elements, Trader Joe’s, Publix Super Markets, Harris Teeter and Whole Foods Market also ranked high across four out of the five service areas — yet falling short with promotions. The promotions category took into account loyalty programs, availability of coupons, as well as pricing, availability and frequency of promotions.

“In light of current economic conditions, grocery stores must pay attention to all service areas in order to preserve customer loyalty,” said Brian Jones, Empathica VP grocery. “Promotions are no exception.”

Although 48% of respondents consider electronic offers to be important, one-third felt those offers did not always meet their expectations, said Jones.

In Canada, Safeway had the highest score in meeting customer expectations across all service areas. Wal-Mart Stores ranked near the bottom of the list for operations, people and promotions among Canadians. In the United States, Wal-Mart ranked among the lowest in those same service areas, in addition to merchandise. A&P, C&S Wholesale Grocers and Unified Grocers also ranked among the lowest across all five service areas.

More than 85% of surveyed consumers indicated they will spend more or the same at grocery stores and supermarkets within the next three months. Additionally, more than half of consumers reported spending more than half of their grocery dollars at their primary supermarket.

“According to the survey, a considerable number of U.S. consumers shop at Wal-Mart for their groceries. In fact, more than one out of every four consumers shopped for groceries at Wal-Mart,” said Jones. “This is largely indicative of their prices.”

In the Midwest, the top five grocers based on overall customer experience were Giant Eagle, Meijer, Kroger, Hy-Vee and Aldi. The Northeast was topped by Wegmans, Delhaize America, Ahold USA, Wakefern Food Corp. and Giant Eagle.